Are marketing videos a secret marketing strategy? Probably not. But you can certainly learn from them. These BMW marketing videos do display some great hidden truths.

BMW marketing videos persuade with emotion.

The secret of all effective advertising is not the creation of new and tricky words and pictures, but one of putting familiar words and pictures into new relationships.

– Leo Burnett

Have you seen these two recent BMW videos? Watch them both here … each is only 60 seconds. We will then examine each video and what contributes to their strengths and weaknesses and their ability to influence or persuade.

How many times do you hear “I want my video to go viral”? To make this happen you have to create content that is pretty innovative, exciting and cool so that your audience will want to share. Well here’s the kind of video that ticks all those boxes.

BMW Canada has released these videos which have been viewed over 7 million times (at time of writing). The first one was the most popular and it became the number one worldwide auto video on YouTube after just 2 days. The title of the first video makes you think that you’ll be seeing BMW cars taking on concrete walls and losing. The video is pretty clever and keeps you on the edge of your chair as you watch it.

Marketing or advertising, you need to create information that your customers find interesting and worth talking about and remembering. These videos certainly achieve this goal, don’t you think?

For a different way of marketing see our article on Marriott Marketing.

Let’s evaluate other keys to effective marketing strategy in these videos:

Show … don’t tell

Certainly BMW could have talked about its cars design features, in all its technical glory. But that is not the best way to create a story that holds an audience’s attention. It is a much better approach to show the capabilities in person, but if that can’t be done, then an effective video is the next best thing. It is the only way to effectively to communicate messages to 7 million+ viewers.

Grab and hold viewers’ attention

Grab attention with interesting information. Keep in mind that people don’t watch ads … they watch what interests them. Your ad messages must be interesting to your target communities. This video certainly grabs and holds attention based on simple emotion

Be relevant to your target market

Keep in mind that one message does not fit all. It starts with knowing your target market. Here the target market is people who like fast, stylish automobiles with focus on sound driving capabilities. Perhaps they secretly desire to be race car drivers? These videos are certainly relevant to this market.

Define your positioning

Your positioning is your frame of reference. Make comparisons to your competitors if you can. BMW certainly knows who its major competitors are and but chooses to not take them on in these videos. A good move we believe.

Define a value proposition

Build unique selling points that truly discriminates you from your competition. Give your customers reasons to select you. Maybe not the most significant visible feature, it does illustrate BMW as a company that puts high priority on great automobile design and driving capabilities, which is their clear objective.

Make your messages simple

Simple messages that the reader will quickly understand are the most effective. Keep in mind that pictures are far more valuable than words. And of course a video shows much more than pictures. Creating customer emotion does not get any simpler or more memorable than this, does it?

Consider the end state values to your customers

Customers and particularly the target customers are looking for new and better auto design features. No reason to buy without these and the marketing strategy certainly is addressing this end state in our opinion. The videos do not address any specific design features other than turning and maneuverability capabilities. Show, don’t tell is a great strategy, isn’t it?

Influence and persuasion

There is no better means of influence or persuasion than emotion. Emotion is the best, hands down the best, in our opinion. This commercial focuses on emotional appeal in grand fashion. It is the secret of these videos success and what makes the marketing strategy most effective.

Remember, it is not what advertising does with the consumer; it is what the consumer does after viewing the advertisement.

After looking over these enablers, we believe BMW has created a very effective marketing strategy. What do you think? Can these videos persuade you?

What are some of your experiences with videos as a component of an integrated marketing campaign?

Need some help in capturing more customers from your marketing strategies? Creative ideas to help the differentiation with potential customers?

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Mike Schoultz is the founder of Digital Spark Marketing, a digital marketing and customer service agency. With 40 years of business experience, he blogs on topics that relate to improving the performance of your business. Find them on G+, Twitter, and LinkedIn.

Digital Spark Marketing will stretch your thinking and your ability to adapt to change. We also provide some fun and inspiration along the way. Call us for a free quote today. You will be amazed how reasonable we will be.

More reading on marketing and advertising from Digital Spark Marketing’s Library:

Guinness Marketing Campaign Shows Their Creativity

Secrets to Share on Lego’s Marketing Campaigns

12 Lessons from Ben and Jerry’s Marketing Strategies

Magical? Yes, we do mean magical. We mean magical ideas on employing marketing videos.

The best camera is the one with you. Videos aren’t about dynamic ranges and megapixels. They’re about stories and moments.

The magic that keeps you glued to your creative video. The magic that makes you remember what you just viewed. The magic that entices you to tell your friends about what you watched … and share it.

Have you ever seen the videos of Steve Jobs presenting the new product launch of the Mac, iPod, or iPad? He understood that something could be entertaining yet meaningful at the same time. Videos such as these work as well on the web as they do on television.

Related: Social Media Marketing Lessons From the New Pros in Town

The simple objective … turn marketing into magical, entertaining content, not content into marketing.

Why video marketing?

Video marketing is a powerful tool for getting more visibility more quickly, so you can get your message out, attract your ideal clients, and have more impact. It’s been reported that your chances of getting a page-one listing on Google search increase by 53 times when you use video.

Video marketing is relationship marketing: crucial for connecting, building loyalty, and developing the “know, like, and trust” factor which is so important when doing business online.

To be effective with video, the emphasis needs to be on your marketing strategy. You must ask: What’s the goal of the video? What business objective will it accomplish? Who will be viewing the video, and what do you want the viewer to do after they watch it?

Use the following structure for your video:

Objectives

Think strategically about the business objectives for your video. You can use it for creating awareness, increasing your visibility, building trust and credibility, generating leads, launching a product, growing your list, driving web traffic, and selling a service. Understanding your objectives up front will determine your message, platform, and distribution.

Story

The second element is to determine your message, script, or story. Your premise is how you’ll communicate your message and move your viewer to action. What do you want your viewer to do when the video is over?

When developing your message or writing your script, keep in mind the very limited attention span of online viewers. Be clear, concise, and direct. Get to the point quickly and keep your video as short as possible. The vast majority of YouTube videos are under three minutes in length.

Platform

While you could argue that there are only really two types of videos—on-camera or off-camera—there are actually many different styles and options. The video has evolved into much more than the traditional “talking head” format. You’ll want to find the platform that best fits your needs and personal style.

Most video creators default to the tried-and-true on-camera video, which can include a direct-to-camera video, a video interview with two or more participants, a video tips series, or a live webcast. On-camera videos are usually best for when you want to make a more engaging connection with your viewers, or when you’re promoting a more personal service and you wish to create more trust and credibility.

Off-camera videos, on the other hand, don’t require you to be on camera. Off-camera videos can be extremely effective when sharing a lot of information, such as during a video webinar or training video.

Promotion

A fourth structure element is a promotion or how and where you’ll distribute, share, and market your video online. Determine where your target market is, and share your video there. Once your video is on YouTube, you can set up one-click sharing to Facebook, Google+, Twitter, LinkedIn, and more.

You can also use the embed code that YouTube provides to get the video on your website or blog. In addition, YouTube will provide a link to your video so you can send it out in an email to your list.

Be sure to consider other social media sites that accept video, such as Pinterest, Instagram (15-second limit), Slide Share, and other video hosting sites such as Viddler or Vimeo. The more you distribute your video, the better chance viewers have to find it and watch it.

How to build winning videos

So what is the magic of creating a potentially viral video? Consider the following six elements we use to build winning videos:

Engage audience

Grab attention … to some problem your audience shares, and then address the solution. This is the most important part of the video … the part of the video that compels viewers to want to see and hear the entire story/show!

Stylize the experience

Design an experience that will be memorable … create the visual of your value, the core message. Take some risks here to stand out and be different … no risks, no rewards.

Enlighten and inform

Provide your key discriminating message woven into the central theme of the video. This is the second most important element of your video … convincing customers your story is the best and the reason to select you. Make sure you are addressing your most important target customers. And avoid selling at all costs!

Entertain

Be memorable and bold … be worth the audience’s time and attention. Use subtle marketing techniques. The challenge is to turn marketing into memorable content that informs, enlightens, and entertains at the same time.

Resonate

Strike a nerve to grab attention and connect with your audience. What makes your video such a powerful marketing and branding tool is its ability to communicate on verbal, visual, and metaphoric levels. If you are not using all 3 levels of communication, you are missing opportunities to resonate and connect with your audience.

Compel action

We all understand the need for a call to action. However, you can only deliver on the action called with a convincing story. A story catching attention and providing relevant messages for your target customers.

Video subject ideas

Show the steps it takes to make your flagship product.

Highlight a video testimonial: Ask your customers what three words they would use to describe your company.

Get customers to showcase how they use your products.

Create video clips from a charity event or corporate outing your company has organized.

Humanize your brand by introducing your employees.

Create teasers for upcoming webinars, events, or trade shows.

Create a campaign series; for example, how to install your product in easy, short steps.

Use stop-motion animation to deliver an exciting company announcement.

Build a 30-60 second video to represent the brand elevator pitch. Your goal is to explain what the brand is all about and why people want to buy from you.

Build one to two-minute video demonstrations of products in your store.

Give your brand a personality. Social media allows and wants you to give your brand a personality. Use a video to make it real and authentic. Make it quirky or innovative.

Use a short 30-second video to market a new promotion. This could be a new book, song or movie, or even event. How long do you need to communicate something new? Remember the power of simplicity.

Use a video to announce a special offer or discount.50% off. How long does it take to announce that special offer for your clothing store? Make it visual, aural, and shareable.

Key takeaways:

Imagination Knows no Bounds. With these examples, it’s clear that the potential for marketing with Vine is limited only by the imagination of your marketing team. Before setting out to make your own videos, decide what kind of approach you want to take—and how you can get your audience involved.

For instance, if you want to teach users a lesson similar to the way Lowes and GE have, think of a few tidbits that would be useful to your customers, then determine the best way to present them. Practice what you’re going to do a few times before filming, and make sure that everything is well-lit, clear, and distinctive.